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Toronto Life - The Wire

The comprehensive index of every blog post, magazine story and restaurant review that appears on Torontolife.com

All stories by Denise Dias

The Goods

Shop Talk

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Haute Classics brings designer consignment to south Rosedale

(Image: Denise Dias)

The place: This charmingly crowded, walk-in-closet-size shop is stuffed with authentic designer clothing that’s sold on consignment. After running an on-line store for two years, best friends Stella Kim and Jina Han, both 28, opened on the outskirts of Yorkville and Rosedale in early May.

The stuff: The pair keeps consignors’ identities secret and is able to stock exclusively high-end designer items (either new or as good as). On one of our visits, we spotted a gold Burberry Prorsum dress ($1,460) and vintage Hermès scarves ($120). An impressive accessories collection includes black Christian Louboutin pumps ($345), leather Proenza Schouler boots ($500) and an assortment of bags, like a limited-edition Louis Vuitton Speedy ($1,100) and a miniature Chanel tassel purse ($725).

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The Goods

Shop Talk

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Just Opened: Mjölk brings Scandinavian style to the Junction

Mjolk1

Naoto Fukasawa dining table and chairs (Photo by Denise Dias)

With such stores as Post and Beam, Forever Interiors and Smash, the Junction is one of the city’s prime destinations for decorators and home decor junkies, but the addition of the Scandinavian lifestyle shop Mjölk in December is a good reason to revisit.

For the past year, the young owners, John Baker and Juli Daoust, have been sharing their favourite spaces, places and things on their blog, Kitka Design Toronto. But it was the challenge of furnishing their home that inspired them to open the store.

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The Goods

Shop Talk

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Holy Cow brings globe-trotter style to Leslieville

Exotic decor and specialty gift boutique Holy Cow is the latest project for restaurateur Aristedes Pasparakis and womenswear designer Alexia von Beck. The long-time partners, globetrotters and treasure hunters opened the shop three months ago, filling it with eclectic art, furniture, jewellery and household items from north Africa and Asia.

Holy-Cow

(Photo by Denise Dias)

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The Goods

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Just Opened: Cupido adds sparkle to Bayview Village

Bayview Village's newest resident

Bayview Village's newest resident

After two successful years at Vaughan Mills, good friends Jeff Karadjian and Haigo Derian have opened a second location of their gleaming fine-jewellery shop, Cupido. The Bayview Village boutique opened in October and offers luxury labels, such as Hermès, alongside European brands new to Canada for a lust-inducing collection of interesting and inspired objets d’art for the body. Here are some of our favourite finds from the store.

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The Goods

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Just opened: Love the Design is the newest addition to gallery row

Love the Design Space

Love the Design is more like a living room than a gallery

Up a long, narrow staircase, above the shoe store Chasse Gardée on Queen Street, sits a cozy new addition to the city’s gallery row. Love the Design, a light-filled, loft-like space owned by Christine Flynn, features a variety of contemporary art created from a collection of her vibrant photographs.

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The Goods

Shop Talk

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Just Opened: West Salon and Spa puts a pretty face on Queen West

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New kid on the block: West Salon and Spa (Carmen Cheung)

Sandwiched neatly between Brooklynn Bar and The Beaver, the recently opened West Salon and Spa is a bit out of place among the late-night watering holes and restaurants along this part of Queen West. But the owners, Priscilla Medeiros and Rob Banton, carefully selected the location by keeping a close eye on real estate for over a year.

The hip thirty-something couple are no strangers to the neighbourhood—they live in the area and Banton is part owner of nearby Nyood restaurant, which shares the same open feel, soaring ceilings and discreetly glamorous style of the new beauty parlor.

Medeiros, a former songstress and dancer, lights up when she explains the different spa services. In addition to hair treatments like blowouts, cuts, and colour jobs, customers can also schedule appointments for massage therapy, manicures, pedicures, facials, spray-on tans and laser hair removal.

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The Goods

Shop Talk

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Just opened: Cubeshops brings Japanese design to Baldwin Street

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Colour coded: Cubeshops displays its wares gallery-style

The recently opened Cubeshops is almost lost in the sea of bars and restaurants lining a popular stretch of Baldwin Street, but the tidy white shelves stocked with unusual knick-knacks catch the attention of curious passersby.

The store resembles a modern art gallery, where customers ponder the design and functionality of colourful curios, a seemingly random mix of household products and office supplies, everything from staple-free staplers to coat hangers. These objects have been carefully chosen by the owners, a group of four young friends from Toronto, along with a team of Japanese partners, to link Toronto shoppers with Japanese artists; most of the products are packaged with a photo and short biography of the designer.

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